Problem-Solving Success Tip: Use Your Time for Problems that are Truly ImportantLearn Management Articles on management-info.biz. Problem-Solving Success Tip: Use Your Time for Problems that are Truly Important article will help answer your questions on Management Articles.We at management-info.biz specialize in Management Articles. Management Articles at management-info.biz provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
Hard as it may be to walk away once you're aware of it, just because a problem is there doesn't mean you have to solve it. Ask yourself and your colleagues, 'What will happen if we don't solve this problem?' If the answer is, 'not much,' then turn your attention to something more important. If you don't know what will happen, find out before you undertake a problem-solving project. It should be clear to you and everyone else involved that the problem is worth the effort--and expense--to fix it. Quantify the cost of the problem quickly, but as realistically as you can. Include lost opportunity costs as well as real expenses such as staff time to deal with the problem, travel expenses, etc. Use actual costs where you can; estimate where you can't. Then guesstimate what it will cost to analyze and fix it. Write your analysis down, stating all your assumptions explicitly. Get a colleague to verify that your assumptions and estimates are reasonable. Start with a rough 'order of magnitude' estimate. That may be enough to answer the question of whether you should proceed. If it's not clear, especially if the cost to solve it will be high, do a more careful analysis. If it will cost more to fix than to live with the problem, or if the number is even close, perhaps your resources (time, people, money) are better spent on other projects. If you decide to proceed anyway, you can do so with a better understanding of what you're undertaking. On the other hand, if you can demonstrate that the cost of the problem is much higher than the cost of solving it, using estimates based on reasonable assumptions, it will generally be much easier to get the resources you need. You can use your written analysis as a sales tool to help win support for your decision to proceed or not. We have to learn to distinguish those things that are truly important from those that are merely urgent. --Jerry D. Campbell
copyright 2005. Jeanne Sawyer. All Rights Reserved. |
More Articles:1. Organizational Culture and Creative Blocks – the Similarities By Kal Bishop Few Decision makers see the link between between creativity and innovation management, as performed by MBA’s in firms, and creative endeavours such as screenwriting. In fact, there are very strong linkages.The problems that prevent individuals coming up with ideas, writing and then commercialising their screenplays are the very same as the problems that firms face when they attempt to motivate their people to come up with innovative ideas - whether it be innovation of product, process, paradi… 2. Relationship Building - 5 Tips and 5 Questions* By building great relationships, you will shift the baseline way up. So that when you need to manage, it will be so much easier. Think how climbing a mountain from sea level is so much harder than from a camp half-way up.And is isn't hard - it's more about focusing on people, who they are and what interests them. And that's just where you spend your time. About them - not you, not your business. Create partnerships.5 tips 1. Be natural - by being yourself, you will build relationships with ease… 3. Three Ways to Transmit Loud and Clear By Linda Henman The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart. --Benjamin FranklinHow often have you said something that you thought was perfectly clear, only to find out later that the receiver had taken it in exactly the wrong way? A boss’s ability to communicate well with direct reports depends on the capacity to transmit meaning between people through the use of words. These words give us the ability to represent the world through symbols, a skill that that allows us… 4. How to Sing the Song of the Unsung Heroes on Your Team By Susan Dunn This article is for you if you’re a behind-the-scenes kind of person – the admin assistant who gets the presentation ready for the guys in marketing but doesn’t get to go to the meeting; the PR pro who writes all their speeches and answers all the complaint letters for the president or CEO; the at-home mother who makes sure the concert pianist practices; the deputy chief whose job description is doing all the things the chief doesn’t like to do or can’t do; or the paralegal who prepares all th… |
||||
